French aircraft bombing Malian towns and French troops defending
the capital of an African country carries with it the strong,
pungent odor of neocolonialism, whatever "terrorist" label the
French may try to put on the Malian rebels. Continue

Foreign nationals are less valuable than Americans. Our
losses are tragedies; theirs are collateral damage. The American
public remains callously indifferent to the suffering of human
“others.” Continue

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or
unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for
the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will
persist."Continue

The state-corporate fraudsters, murderers and liars who wrap
themselves in the language of freedom and democracy have been
getting away with it for so long. Continue

Toll in Iraq attacks rises to 29:
The toll from a spate of attacks across Iraq on Thursday rose to
29 dead and 120 wounded, officials said, amid weeks of
anti-government protests and a political crisis engulfing the
country.

Explosion kills 12 in Syria's Aleppo:
Twelve people were killed when an explosion rocked a government
-held district of the disputed Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday,
a monitoring group said, and both sides in the conflict accused
the other of mounting the attack.

Syria crisis: BBC sees evidence of Homs
massacre: The BBC has found
evidence to support reports from Syria of a massacre this week
in which at least 100 people were killed and burned in their
homes. A team visited the village of Haswiya, on the edge of the
central city of Homs, and saw charred bodies still lying inside
one of the houses.

French journalist killed by sniper fire
in Syria: Debay, who was shot
once in the head and once in the chest, was brought to Turkey
overnight where medical staff pronounced him dead on arrival,
the official said. Syrian anti-government rebels said Debay had
been shot in the northern city of Aleppo.

60 foreign hostages 'still missing':
Algerian special forces resumed negotiating today with the
militants holed up in the refinery, according to the news
service, quoting a security source. The report said "more than
half of the 132 hostages" had been freed in the first two days,
but it could not account for the remainder, saying some could be
hidden throughout the sprawling desert site.

Algerian government says terrorists came
from Libya: The Algerian
government has said that the Islamist guerrillas responsible for
capturing and killing a number of hostages came from Libya.
Citing European and American security sources, France's Le
Figaro newspaper has reported that the attack had been planned
well before the French military intervention in Mali

Algeria: Militants Demand Safe Passage to
Libya : Islamist militants
who seized Westerners at an Algerian gas plant are demanding a
safe passage to nearby Libya, authorities said, as fallout from
the French offensive in Mali reverberates globally.

US helping but hesitant on Mali
intervention:
Al-Qaida's expanding foothold in Mali has the Obama
administration declaring it cannot accept new terrorist
sanctuaries and promising to support French and African efforts
to restore security.

Making sense of Mali's armed groups:
After spending weeks reporting from the country's restive north,
Al Jazeera's May Ying Welsh reviews some of the different groups
and what they want.

Mali: fragile democracy and clumsy US
policy:
Op-Ed:
"Under siege by drones in Pakistan and Yemen, al-Qaida 3.0 has
exploited the 'Arab Awakening' to create its largest safe havens
and operational bases in more than a decade across the Arab
world. This may prove to be the most deadly al-Qaida yet."

CIA intelligent agents arrested in Tehran:
Iranian Intelligence Ministry has said that its agents have
discovered a group of CIA undercover agents in what the Ministry
defined as ‘constant and smart operations.’

Emirati citizen found guilty of espionage:
The UAE citizen stands accused of providing a foreign state with
secret military intelligence via a foreign consulate. This comes
amidst reports that the suspect’s wife is an Iranian national.
The UAE citizen pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced
to 7 years imprisonments.

Rubio’s New Foreign Policy Adviser Called
For War With Iran: Rubio —
considered to be a top contender for the Republican nomination
for president in 2016 — “has worked to establish his credentials
in foreign affairs,” the Times notes, “espousing a hawkish view
as he sits on foreign relations and the intelligence committee.”

Netanyahu 'will not dismantle settlements':
Israel's prime minister has said no Jewish settlements in the
West Bank will be removed during his next term in office if he
wins elections on Tuesday. benjamin Netanyahu told Israel's
Maariv newspaper: "The days when bulldozers uprooted Jews are
behind us, not in front of us

Saudi Arabia to grant $100m to
Palestinians: Saudi Arabia
will give the Palestinian government in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank $100m to help alleviate a worsening budget crisis, the
Palestinian president's office has said.

How the media let Israel get away with
murder: Israel spends a lot
of time talking about secure borders and how the need for them
drives its policies regarding the Palestinians. With few
exceptions, the media act as willing promoters of this
perversion of reality.

Pakistan says it will free all Afghan
Taliban detainees: Pakistan
plans to release all Afghan Taliban prisoners still in its
detention, including the group's former second-in-command, an
official said on Friday, in the clearest signal yet that it
backs reconciliation efforts.

WikiLeaks suspect's motive no defense: US
judge: A US military judge
ruled Wednesday that Bradley Manning's motive for allegedly
leaking a huge cache of secret files to WikiLeaks is no defense
against the long list of charges he faces.

More Preschoolers Than Cops Get Shot Dead:
According to a new report from the Children’s Defense Fund in
2008 and 2009 – the two years after the Virginia Tech shootings
– 173 kids age five and under died from gunfire in the US. By
comparison, 89 police officers were shot and killed during the
same period.

If You Are Unemployed In These States,
Move!: The following states
are the worst to live in if you are unemployed. Connecticut tops
the list with its massive wealth disparity - more than one
$200,000 household for every household earning less than
$10,000. New York, California, and D.C. are close behind with
Oregon and Alabama in 19th and 20th 'worst' place to be
unemployed.

The governments and corporations based in Washington, Paris,
London and Beijing rely upon the myriad corrupt local regimes
and movements to man their predatory wars and to police the
brutal exploitation of the workers and poor peasants. Continue

A dozen Russian warships from the Northern, Baltic and Black Sea
fleets are converging on the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Aden,
as part of a large-scale strategic exercise. Russian intentions
are obvious. Continue

$454,393,280,417.03...for the year 2011, that’s how much
Americans paid a consortium of twelve private banks for creating
dollars out of nothing, and loaning them to the government at
interest. Continue

U.S. corporations’ after-tax profits have grown by 171
percent under Obama, more than under any president since World
War II, and are now at their highest level relative to the size
of the economy since the government began keeping records in
1947. Continue

African Union troops killed 7 civilian:
African Union troops mistakenly opened fire on a religious
school while pursuing militants, killing five children and two
adults, a Somali legislator said Thursday.

US to officially recognise Somalia
government: "When the secretary meets with
Hassan Sheikh tomorrow, she will exchange diplomatic notes with
him and recognise the Somali government in Mogadishu for the
first time in 20 years," Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie
Carson told reporters.

Libya mulls curfew for violence-hit
Benghazi: Libya is considering imposing a
curfew on the violence-wracked eastern city of Benghazi, its
prime minister said on Wednesday, a day after a car bomb killed
a police officer there.

Six bombers killed, many civilians
injured in Kabul blast: At least six suicide
attackers were killed and some 30 civilians wounded as a Townace-type
car full of explosives was blown up close to the NDS compound
here in Kabul, an official and a statement from the ministry of
interior compound said Wednesday.

Government in talks with Tahirul Qadri:
Earlier, Qadri had given the government a ‘last deadline’ of
until 3 pm to meet his demands which he had later extended to
3:45 pm. At the time, he had also stated that talks could only
be held with President Asif Ali Zardari. However, the government
had constituted a committee to hold talks with the TMQ chief.

Syria sets conditions for talks with
opposition; “…We are even ready to negotiate
with armed groups that tend to lay down their weapons because
they are the children of the Syria who have been misled by the
plots of the enemies, and our aim is to return them to our
national society,” said al-Halqi in a Wednesday farewell meeting
with Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi .

17 killed in third day of deadly Iraq
attacks: A spate of bombings targeting
Shiite Muslims across Iraq killed 17 people on Thursday, the
latest in a spike in unrest amid weeks of anti-government
protests and a political crisis engulfing the country.

US ex-commander: We can't stop Iran's
nuclear program: Admiral William Fallon,
former head of U.S. Central Command, warns that an attack on
Iran's nuclear facilities would take weeks, and would only set
Tehran back a few years • IAEA inspectors in talks with Iran for
second day over disputed nuclear program.

Obama, Netanyahu seem headed for
US-Israel clash: Israel's premier on
Wednesday dismissed President Barack Obama's reported
displeasure with his hard-line policies toward the Palestinians,
a sisgn that the two could be headed for a showdown.

Chuck Hagel nomination hearing set for
Jan. 31: Hagel faces strong opposition from
some Republican senators, who are critical of his past
statements on Israel and Iran. But the former Nebraska senator
got a significant boost Tuesday when Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.),
the No. 3 Democrat and most senior Jewish senator, announced his
support for the nomination.

Russia Says World Is Nearing Currency War
; The world is on the brink of a fresh “currency war,” Russia
warned, as European policy makers joined Japan in bemoaning the
economic cost of rising exchange rates. “Japan is weakening the
yen and other countries may follow,” Alexei Ulyukayev, first
deputy chairman of Russia’s central bank, said

IMF approves next tranche of bailout
money to Greece: The IMF executive board
announced its decision late on Wednesday after a long delay
drawn out by Greece's political crisis that arose from the
economic recession. The next tranche scheduled to be disbursed
is worth 3.24 billion euros ($4.31 billion).

World Bank Slashes Global Growth
Forecasts for 2013: Economies around the
world are still facing a struggle towards recovery, despite
improved conditions in financial markets, the World Bank said
Wednesday, as it sharply cut its global growth outlook for 2013.

Campaign To Overturn Citizens United:
The LA City Council voted Wednesday to draft ballot language for
voters to weigh in on whether they believe there should be
limits on campaign spending and whether corporations should have
the same rights as people.

Good news:
Florida Senate panel votes to ban spying
with drones: A Florida Senate panel says
police should be banned from using drones to spy on citizens. A
bill (SB 92) that would prohibit law enforcement agencies from
gathering evidence or other information flew through the
Criminal Justice Committee with a unanimous vote Tuesday.

Can the DEA Hide a Surveillance Camera on
Your Land? : A US district court judge ruled
in the case last fall that it was okay for the DEA to enter the
rural property without a warrant and install surveillance
cameras that were used to help convict five members of a family
on charges they were growing marijuana.

The precise nature of this “Islamist threat” from Mali is never
spelled out or evidenced. . We are expected to accept the word
of Paris, London and Washington - the rogue states that have and
are conducting illegal wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and
Syria.
Continue

Crowing about the moral virtues of making war while accepting a
peace prize might seem a bit odd, but Obama's rhetoric was in
sync with a key dictum from Orwell: "Who controls the past
controls the future; who controls the present controls the
past."Continue

The real struggle confronting the United States is not between
the Right and the Left in any traditional sense, but between
those who believe in reality and those who are entranced by
unreality. Continue

What would you say if you heard that a ruler of a
country suspended its entire constitution, its entire bill of
rights, forced a draft, and jailed every major writer and editor
who disagreed with him? Continue

Here's one theory why religion is in decline in many places
around the world. Continue

Campus blasts kill 87 in Syria’s Aleppo:
Twin blasts ripped through university buildings in Syria’s
second city Aleppo, killing at least 87people and wounding
scores more, on the first day of exams for students. Regime
forces and rebels blamed each other for the carnage, in a
government-controlled area of the battleground northern city.

Syria allows U.N. to step up food aid:
Syria's government has authorised the World Food Programme (WFP)
to extend its reach in the war-torn country where 2.5 million
people are suffering from hunger, the United Nations agency's
chief said on Wednesday.

New Push in U.S. for Tougher Sanctions,
War Threats Against Iran: The
report, “U.S. Nonproliferation Strategy for the Changing Middle
East,” also said Washington should “increase Iranian isolation,
including through regime change in Syria” and “undertake…overt
preparations for the use of warplanes and/or missiles to destroy
Iran’s nuclear capabilities with high explosives”.

Wave of Iraq attacks leave 33 dead:
- Attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed 33 people on
Wednesday as hundreds attended the funeral of a Sunni MP who
died in a suicide attack a day earlier, amid a political crisis
engulfing Iraq.

Turkish jets pound over 50 Kurd rebel
targets in Iraq: "Sixteen
F-16 fighter jets took off from their base in Diyarbakir in the
southeast at around 2000 GMT Tuesday and bombed the (rebel)
targets in Qandil mountain in northern Iraq, 90 kilometres from
the border," a military source said.

Obama: ‘Israel Doesn’t Know What Its Best
Interests Are’: Op-Ed: Obama
said privately and repeatedly, “Israel doesn’t know what its own
best interests are.” With each new settlement announcement, in
Obama’s view, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward
near-total isolation.

Gunmen kill security official south of
Yemen's Sanaa: Gunmen killed
the deputy security chief of Dhamar province, south of the
Yemeni capital Sanaa, an interior ministry official said, less
than a month after an adviser to the minister of defence was
shot dead in Sanaa.

Mali's Islamist groups united by war
threat: A powerful southern
offensive by Islamists in Mali last week, halted only by French
air strikes, showed that a loose alliance of rebels from al
Qaeda's North African wing and local groups has been united by
the threat of foreign intervention.

Germany to send transport planes to Mali:
Germany has said it is sending two transport planes to Mali to
help shore up an initial battle against Islamist insurgents.
French ground troops already in Mali were set to engage directly
with the rebels Wednesday.

Libya paid Mauritania $200 million to
extradite ex-spy chief:
lawyer: Libya authorized payment of almost $200 million to
Mauritania months after it extradited the Libyan ex-spy chief to
face trial at home in defiance of an International Criminal
Court warrant for his arrest, Libyan government documents show.

Arab Spring makes region $225 billion
poorer: Ousting dictators
doesn’t come cheap. Between 2011 and 2015 the total lost
economic output in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia is expected to
amount to $225 billion. That is at least 10 percent of the
cumulative GDP estimated by the International Monetary Fund in
2010 for those five years.

Pakistanis protest killing of 18 in
village raid: Several
thousand people rallied Wednesday in northwestern Pakistan,
denouncing the killing of 18 local villagers in an overnight
raid they blamed on security forces and displaying the victims'
bodies in the provincial capital in a sign of protest.

Pakistan cleric propels protest into
third day: Pakistani
protesters rallied for a third day on Wednesday in the largest
political demonstration seen for years in the capital, calling
on the government to quit after the Supreme Court ordered the
arrest of the prime minister.

Kabul suicide blast left 10 killed, as
many wounded: An allegedly
suicide attack took place between Zambaq and Sadarat squares,
close the NDS headquarter, killing and wounding ten people
including the security troops in the capital, but spokesman for
the ministry of interior said the situation was now under police
control.

Fact or fiction:
Secret State Department cable:
Chemical weapons used in Syria: The cable, signed by the U.S.
consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, and sent to
State Department headquarters in Washington last week, outlined
the results of the consulate's investigation into reports from
inside Syria that chemical weapons had been used in the city of
Homs

US: No chemical weapons used in Syria:
The United States on Tuesday poured cold water on a media report
that chemical weapons had been used in the Syrian conflict, but
reiterated that if Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government
did resort to these weapons, it would be held to account.

Tony Benn hits out at unelected EU
officials: Veteran Labour
politician Tony Benn has criticised unelected officials who run
the European Union and accused them of "empire-building". He
speaks to VoR about his view that the UK should remain within
the EU but "not be part of the empire".

Germany to repatriate gold from US and
France: Bundesbank voiced
plans to withdraw its entire 450-ton store of gold bullion from
the Bank of France in Paris, and a portion of the 1,500 tons
currently held by the New York Federal Reserve, Handelsblatt
reported.

We must focus on the working poor:
New analysis of the most recent U.S. Census American Community
Survey by the Working Poor Families Project shows that the
number of low-income working families in the United States has
increased to 10.4 million in 2011, up from 10.2 million a year
earlier.

With the Asia Pivot, the US
wants to encircle China, and supplies
old and new allies with missiles aimed
at its main rival. An amped up arms race
means cash flow for the world's biggest
death dealer. Continue

Jefferson created his Bible
using two copies of the King James Bible
and a razor blade. Continue

Mali: More than
60 Malian killed in Gao:
More than 60 "rebels" were killed in
their bases near the northern Malian
city of Gao under intense bombardment by
French air power, a security source and
residents said on Monday.

Two policemen
injured in Libya bomb attack:
Unidentified assailants threw a bomb
into the policemen's car Monday night.
Security forces later detained the
occupants of two suspect vehicles for
questioning over the attack, dpa
reported.

Worries about a
‘failed state’ in Syria:
Growing chaos in the liberated areas of
northern Syria is convincing some
members of the Syrian opposition that
the country will become a “failed state”
unless an orderly political transition
begins soon to replace President Bashar
al-Assad.

Peres: “Arafat Should Not Have Been
Assassinated:
Israeli President, Shimon Peres, stated
that late Palestinian President, Yasser
Arafat, should not have been
assassinated, adding that “without
Arafat, the current situation is more
complicated.”

Hamas: Peres
'Admitted' that Israel Killed Arafat:
Hamas has called on Palestinian
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to end
talks with Israel, due to its claims
that President Shimon Peres "admitted"
that the Israeli government was
responsible for the "murder" of former
PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Pakistan's Imran
Khan calls on president to resign:
"The government should immediately
announce new elections and should also
announce a date for it," Khan told the
news conference. "Change is not possible
without holding of free and fair
elections," he added.

Cleric urges
'revolution' at Pakistan protest:
Tahir-ul-Qadri, a Canadian-Pakistani
cleric who led a two-day protest march
into the Pakistani capital, has called
for a "revolution" in Pakistan, after
the government ignored a deadline he set
for it to resign.

Afghanistan: MPs
Trade Blows over Ministers Impeachment:
Parliament descended into a brawl in
Tuesday's sitting session apparently
over the question of whether to impeach
11 ministers whose ministries failed to
spend more than 50 percent of their
development budgets in 1390.

Military Suicides
Reached Record High In 2012:
Suicides in the U.S. military surged to
a record 349 last year, far exceeding
American combat deaths in Afghanistan,
and some private experts are predicting
the dark trend will grow worse this
year.

Mali Islamists
vow to strike ‘at heart’ of France:
“France has attacked Islam. We will
strike at the heart of France,” said a
leader of the Movement for Oneness and
Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an
offshoot of Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM).

US mulls aid to
French in Mali, including drones:
US commanders were looking at providing
intelligence and aerial refueling
tankers among a range of options, such
as logistical backup and boosting
intelligence sharing, which would
involve surveillance drones, the
official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told AFP.

French soldier
killed by Al Shebab in Somalia:
A French soldier who went missing during
a rescue operation to free a hostage in
Somalia was apparently killed by Al
Qaeda-linked group Al Shebab, Defence
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday.

Scores of
militants killed across Syria:
Government report: A
number of armed men were killed during
intense clashes with Syrian troops in
the al-Lirmoun neighborhood of Aleppo
city, situated 310 kilometers (193
miles) north of the capital Damascus, on
Sunday, the official SANA news agency
reported.

US, France plan
attacks on Syria airports: Report:
Citing a fugitive Syrian army officer,
Palestinian Arabic website al-Manar said
that attacks on airports had been
planned by France and that the raids on
airbases and air defense command posts
are being carried out by militants under
direct supervision of American military
officers.

Fact or fiction?
Assad 'Living on
Warship': Syrian
President Bashar Assad and his family
have been living on a warship, with
security provided by Russia,
intelligence sources told Saudi
newspaper Al Watan.

Iran removes euro
and dollar from its trade exchanges:
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance
Shamseddin Hosseini said Monday that
Iran would no longer use euro and dollar
in its trade exchanges according to a
decission made by the government's
economic working-group.

As US drones kill
innocent civillians,
Iran is accused of destabilizing Yemen:
: Iran is working with southern
secessionists in Yemen to expand its
influence and destabilize the strategic
region around the Strait of Hormuz, the
US envoy to Yemen was quoted as saying
on Sunday.

Iraq frees
prisoners in gesture to ease Sunni
protests: Iraq's
government has released more than 300
prisoners held under anti-terrorism laws
as a goodwill gesture to try to appease
Sunni Muslim demonstrators who are
staging protests against Shi'ite Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Where is
Chilcot’s Iraq inquiry report?:
The resistance to its completion and
publication are reportedly the political
classes who supported and led the war
effort – the very people most likely to
be targeted by the inquiry findings

Revealed: Gulf
payments to British MPs:
Former British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown and David Miliband, brother of the
current leader of the UK opposition
party, together accounted for more than
half the expenses, fees and gifts paid
by Gulf companies and governments to
British Members of Parliament, according
to the latest parliamentary report by
the House of Commons.

Britain preparing
for new Falklands War?:
A series of military options are being
considered by UK defense chiefs as
tension mounts between Britain and
Argentina over the Falkland Islands, a
report by the Sunday Telegraph claims.

President Obama is the major human
rights violator. He is directing a
global assassination campaign which is a
major atrocity. I mean if Russia were
doing anything like that – people would
be talking about having a nuclear war.
Continue

America has never confronted a
global challenge of the type or
magnitude it faces today. If it does not
change course, the United States will be
racked by violent storms -- both
figurative and literal -- as the global
order breaks down. Continue

In your standard dictatorship, activists
are brought out back and shot. In the
United States' crypto-dictatorship,
activists are bullied by the state until
they go bankrupt - or as in the case of
activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron
Swartz, made to crack under the constant
pressure, and commit suicide. Continue

10 civilians
including 3 children killed in Mali:
Ten civilians including three children
have been killed in fighting in the
central Mali city of Konna between the
Malian army backed by French forces and
Islamist rebels, Human Rights Watch said
Saturday, citing area residents.

UK to aid France
in Mali attack: : "The Prime Minister has
agreed that the UK will provide
logistical military assistance to help
transport foreign troops and equipment
quickly to Mali," David Cameron's office
said in a statement on Saturday, adding
that London is not going to deploy
British personnel in a combat role.

Could Mali become
Cameron’s third war?:
Hollande is upset because Mali is an
ex-colony and home to 6,000 French
citizens. But Cameron’s language over
Mali (and the death of two French troops
there) certainly suggests he also sees
this as a shared mission of some kind.

In case
you missed it: US
"inadvertently" creates a terrorist
haven in Mali:
This catastrophe did not “just happen.”
It is the direct result of an episode
that may at first seem unrelated: the
US-led intervention in Libya last year.
Rarely in recent times has there been a
more vivid example of how such
interventions can produce devastating
unexpected results.

In case
you missed it: Mali Collapse:
Libyan Blowback:
Where did the Tuareg rebels overrunning
Mali suddenly come from? Libya. The
ethnically Berber fighters were
displaced after the Western-backed
insurgency toppled Khadafi’s government.
The Tuareg rebels had to travel the
Saharan expanse across Algeria to get to
Mali, where they are now declaring
independence.

Somalia: French
Killing of Villagers Led to Failure of
Raid:
The French commandos killed some
villagers and tied others when they
landed at Daaydoog before they headed to
BulMarer. But some villagers who
survived the French killings at the
seaside contacted and alerted Al Shabab
fighters in BuloMarer telling them that
there were at least fifty heavily armed
foreign soldiers on their way to
BuloMarer.

Central African
Republic president dissolves government:
The decree came a day after signing of
agreements between the government of
Central African Republic and rebels in
Gabon on Friday. According to the
agreements, a new prime minister from
the opposition will be named so that a
national unity government would be
formed to end the month-old political
crisis.

Libya: Italian
consul's car attacked in Benghazi:
Gunmen targeted the car of the Italian
consul general in Benghazi, Libya, on
Saturday as he was leaving the
consulate, the latest in a series of
attacks targeting foreign missions and
security officials in the eastern city.

Bomb kills 14
Pakistani soldiers in North Waziristan:
A roadside bomb killed as many as 14
Pakistani soldiers in the northern
border region of North Waziristan on
Sunday, military officials said, a day
after the Pakistani Taliban leader
called for attacks on the military in
the area to stop.

Pakistan Shi'ites
watch over 96 bomb dead for second night:
Talks between Pakistani officials and
Shi'ite leaders on Saturday failed to
quell a protest that brought thousands
onto cold, wet streets for a second
night to watch over the bodies of 96
people killed in one of Pakistan's worst
sectarian attacks.

Pakistani Taliban
say they will not attack Pak army:
: The Pakistani Taliban said on Saturday
they would cease their occasional
attacks on the Pakistani army in the
Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan
and concentrate attacks on Nato forces
in Afghanistan instead – an announcement
possibly designed to head off divisions
in the insurgency.

Afghanistan:
Blast kills 12 after raid:
An explosion Sunday killed seven Afghan
villagers as they tried to pull bodies
of dead insurgents from the rubble of a
village mosque after a night raid by
NATO and Afghan troops, officials said.
Four insurgents and an Afghan soldier
were also reported killed in the
operation.

US playing
strategic arms game
: chinadaily.com.cn The US has allocated
more funds for the development of Prompt
Global Strike, a system that can deliver
a precision non-nuclear weapon strike
anywhere in the world within 1 hour.

CIA Drone Wars
Protested at CIA headquarters:
Anti-killer-drone activists were joined
by participants of Witness Against
Torture who were on the last day of
their week-long fast and work calling
for the closing of Guantanamo, justice
for the prisoners there, and an end to
torture everywhere.

To continue to allow the dying
and suffering under the weight of these
sanctions suggests that we in America
have learned nothing from the results of
similar sanctions imposed in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Continue

John Pilger says in the film:
"We journalists... have to be brave
enough to defy those who seek our
collusion in selling their latest bloody
adventure in someone else's country...
That means always challenging the
official story, however patriotic that
story may appear, however seductive and
insidious it is.Continue

Anonymous trolls are as pathetic as the
anonymous "sources" that contaminate the
gutless journalism of the New York
Times, BBC, and CNN. Rather than call it
cyber-journalism we should stop drinking
this digital poison.
Continue

Sudan army
'kills' 50 Southern Kordofan rebels:
Government troops had pushed back an
attack by rebels in the region, killing
more than 50 and suffering some dead and
wounded themselves, SUNA reported late
on Friday, citing an army statement.

Niger says
sending 500 soldiers to Mali operation:
Niger will send 500 soldiers to join an
international military campaign in Mali
led by West African regional bloc ECOWAS
to quash advances by Islamist rebels,
Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum told
Reuters on Saturday.

Afghanistan: 6
Killed in Nuristan Clashes:
"They wanted to attack the Kamdish
district governor compound but we knew
that they were attacking. We were ready.
When they came we started clashes with
them," he said.

2 NATO truck
drivers killed in rocket attacks:
Two drivers were killed and 10 NATO
containers were damaged on Friday night
when several brazen rockets attacks were
carried out on a terminal near Hazara
Ganji, on the outskirts of Quetta.

U.S. Drones Pound
Pakistan, Which Responds by Doing
Exactly Nothing:
Tribesman rallied on Saturday in the
“thousands” to protest the killing of
Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir, who had
reached a truce with the Pakistani
military. So far, the main Pakistani
politician speaking out against the
drones is Imran Khan, who condemned the
new strikes on Sunday as a violation of
Pakistani sovereign

Indian air chief
threatens Pakistan:
Asserting that repeated ceasefire
violations by Pakistan are
"unacceptable", IAF chief Air Chief
Marshal NAK Browne yesterday warned that
India may have to look at "some other
options for compliance" if such
incidents continue.

Three policemen
killed in Iraq attack:
Three policemen were killed Friday in an
attack on a security checkpoint north of
the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a media
report quoting security officials said,
dpa reported.

Iran warns of
civil war in Iraq: cleric:
"The United States and Zionist regime
(of Israel) are behind Iraq's recent
unrest and the rebellion originated from
Washington's plot to divide Muslims for
creating situation similar to Syria,"
according to semi-official Fars news
agency.

Syria launches
counterstrikes after rebels seize
airbase:
Anti-government rebels overran Idlib
province's Taftanaz airbase, the largest
in northern Syria, on Friday after days
of fierce fighting. Syrian government
forces have launched air strikes in a
bid to take back the base, a rights
watchdog said.

Russia rejects
deal with Assad exit precondition:
Russia voiced support on Saturday for
international peace envoy Lakhdar
Brahimi but insisted Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad’s exit cannot be a
precondition for a deal to end the
country’s conflict.

Turkey may have
to accept transition period with Assad:
A reference was made to a Geneva
consensus at a meeting in Moscow of
Turkish and Russian foreign ministry
officials on the crisis in Syria that
may indicate Turkey will have to accept
a transition period in Syria that
includes President Bashar al-Assad,
analysts have said.

UK seeks deal to
arm Syria rebels:
Britain could ship hundreds of sets of
night vision goggles, body armour and
helmets to Syrian rebels under new plans
to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli forces
kill man, wound another in Gaza:
The incident happened near a cemetery by
the refugee camp, al-Qidra said. Al-Mamlouk
was in an outdoor area studying for an
exam when he was killed, according to
his brother Hani, who was not harmed in
the incide

Palestinians set
up "settler" outpost in E1 zone:
"We chose this specific area because it
is conquered Palestinian land and places
a wedge between the northern and
southern parts of the West Bank," said
Mahmoud Zawara of the Popular
Palestinian Committees. "I hope the
encampment will be permanent and remain
in the E1 area," he added.

Israel orders
Palestinian E1 tent evacuation:
The Israeli Civil Administration has
given Palestinian activists an ultimatum
to quit a protest camp in part of the
occupied West Bank where Israel has
vowed to build new settler homes.

Greeks to pay
over 40% of annual salary in tax:
Annual incomes of as much as EUR25,000
for salaried workers will be taxed at
22%, incomes of as much as EUR42,000
will be taxed at 32%, while a 42% tax
rate will be applied to those paid more
than EUR42,000. Currently, a 40% rate is
applied to those earning more than
EUR60,000, while those earning more than
EUR100,000 are taxed at 45%.

A brief look at the way we
human beings conduct ourselves entitles
us to be seen as no more than ''civilised
savages'' who have achieved modernity
without the underlying moral compass of
civilisation itself. Continue

The movie succinctly poses and addresses
the question “why is this happening in
21st century America?”
Continue

Pakistan:
Bombings kill 101, injure 200:
At least 101 people were killed in
bombings in two cities in Pakistan on
Thursday, officials said, with most
casualties caused by sectarian attacks
in the city of Quetta.

Misplaced Secrecy
on Targeted Killings:
For years, President Obama has been
stretching executive power to claim that
the authorization to use military force
against Al Qaeda gives him the
unilateral authority to order people
killed away from any battlefield without
judicial oversight or public
accountability — even when the target is
an American citizen.

14 dead after car
bomb explosion in Iraq:
An Iraqi security source said a car
explosion that rocked Baghdad has killed
14 and injured many others.
IraqiNews.com said the blast Thursday
morning killed three civilians and 11
others.

More than
one million killed and : Iraq War Poll
Finds Most Americans Think War Was
"Mistake":
According to the survey, 52 percent of
Americans think it was a mistake for the
U.S. to send troops to Iraq in 2003,
while 31 percent say it was not. In
addition, 55 percent of respondents said
the war was not worth fighting, and only
27 percent said it was.

KBR, Guilty In
Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot
The Bill:
In November, a jury found KBR, the
military's largest contractor, guilty of
negligence in the poisoning of a dozen
soldiers, and ordered the company to pay
$85 million in damages. KBR says
taxpayers should be on the hook for the
verdict, as well as more than $15
million the company has spent in its
failed legal defense

Theories Link
Paris Murders to Kurdish Peace Moves:
The killings prompted instant
speculation that the execution-style
triple killing was linked to an attempt
to disrupt peace talks between Turkey
and a jailed Kurdish guerrilla leader.
The negotiations, are an effort to
persuade the rebels to disarm, possibly
in exchange for amnesty for their senior
commanders and greater rights for
Turkey’s Kurdish minority.

Saudi Arabia
mulling over changing approach to Syria:
Report:
The consolidation of Syrian military’s
positions across the country and the
withdrawal of foreign-backed militants
from their strongholds have fuelled
speculations that Saudi Arabia is
considering shifting its policy towards
Syria, a report says.

Oil surges on
Saudi output cut:
Brent crude oil rose more than $1 to a
12-week high today after news of a sharp
cut in Saudi oil production, an
explosion in Yemen that halted most of
the country's oil exports and bullish
Chinese trade data.

Act of
war: : Australia
announces new Iran sanctions:
They include a ban on transactions
between Australian and Iranian banks, a
ban on the export of materials linked to
Iran's nuclear program and a ban on the
import of natural gas from the country.

Palestinian
leader rejects deal on Syria refugees:
Abbas said Ban was told Israel "agreed
to the return of those refugees to Gaza
and the West Bank, but on condition that
each refugee ... sign a statement that
he doesn't have the right of return (to
Israel)."

4 killed in Libya:
Four people were killed in clashes
against a brigade linked to the Libyan
army in the southern town of Kufra, a
military official told AFP on Wednesday.

Fighters clash
with army in central Mali:
Islamist armed group Ansar Dine, among
the groups occupying the north of Mali
for nine months, has taken control of
the central Malian city of Kona in Mopti
province, reports said.

77 percent of
Americans strongly disapprove of
Congress:
Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they
believe Washington is causing “serious
harm to the country,” shedding further
light on the low approval ratings of the
most recent US Congress and the
widespread pessimism regarding the
country’s future.

Strategically, as we’ve argued before,
there is no way that a mythical
nuclear-armed Iran, much less an Iran
enriching uranium at well below weapons
grade, poses an “existential threat” to
Israel. Continue

A nation of laws? Really? Going around
the world killing anyone we want,
whenever we want, based on secret
information? Just think of the precedent
John Brennan is setting for a world of
lawlessness and chaos. Continue

Americans were told a packet of
lies designed to win their gullible
acceptance to an economy that produces
high returns for Wall Street,
shareholders, and corporate executives
at the expense of everyone else in the
country. Continue

Obama regime
kills 25 people in Pakistan: Report:
According to reports, three separate
drone attacks in Pakistan’s South
Waziristan mountains killed at least 17
people Tuesday. The AP reported that
eight suspected militants were among the
dead in a separate strike in North
Waziristan today.

Aleppo misery
eats at Syrian rebel support:
In large areas that have been under
rebel control for six months or more
complaints are getting louder about
indiscipline among the fighters, looting
and a general lack of security and
necessities like running water, bread
and electricity

Surviving in
Aleppo:
As fighting in Syria’s largest city
enters its sixth month, the economy has
ground to a halt. There is no
electricity, and the prices of basic
goods such as bread and cooking oil have
skyrocketed. Residents are selling off
their possessions to survive.

Russia: Assad’s
ideas should be heeded:
Assad “affirmed readiness for the launch
of an inter-Syrian dialogue and for
reforming the country on the basis of
Syria's sovereignty ... and the
principle of non-interference in
internal affairs,” the Russian Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.

Engineering Consent For Attack On Syria:Report: Syrian
chemical weapons ready:
Israel informed the Pentagon of
satellite imagery in the last days of
November showing Syrian soldiers mixing
chemicals at two storage sites and
filling dozens of 500-pound bombs, The
New York Times said in a report
published Tuesday.

U.S. troops
arrive in Turkey:
For now, about 400 U.S. troops are being
airlifted from Oklahoma to Incirlik Air
Base in southern Turkey. The first wave
of troops and supplies arrived Friday,
with more scheduled to come in the
following days, according to the U.S.
European Command.

Shimon Peres:
President Obama would hit Iran:
Shimon Peres is confident President
Barack Obama would approve a military
strike to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions
if it came to that, the Israeli
president said in an interview published
Wednesday.

Russia, China
Plan to Boost Cooperation on Missile
Defense:
– Russia and China are planning to
intensify their cooperation on missile
defense in response to America’s growing
missile defense potential around the
globe, Russian Security Council
Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on
Wednesday.

Malaysian sultan
forbids using ‘Allah’ outside Islam:
The Sultan of the Malaysian state
Selangor has issued a decree that the
sacred word ‘Allah’ can be used only by
Muslims. The move put more fire into
controversy in the state where language
peculiarities also make Christians use
the term.

Hugo Chavez:
Venezuela assembly delays inauguration:
The Venezuelan National Assembly has
approved a request by President Hugo
Chavez to postpone his inauguration for
a new term in office, which was
scheduled for Thursday. Legislators
voted to give Mr Chavez as much time as
he needed to recover.

Venezuela
attracts flocks of immigrants seeking
better life
: Video - As unemployment brings despair
to what once was a land of prosperity,
many of those who are hunting for a
better life are now making some
unexpected choices. Lucy Kafanov reports
from Venezuela on why the country's
becoming a more attractive place to move
to.

The US and the
Privatization of El Salvador:
There are countries which are still very
much living under the hegemony of the
United States. In El Salvador, this
means subservience to Washington and
international investors who seek nothing
less than total control of that nation's
economic destiny.

Record Heat Fuels
Widespread Fires in Australia:
Bush fires raging across some of the
most populous parts of Australia —
feeding off widespread drought
conditions and high winds — pushed
firefighters to their limits and
residents to their wits’ end on
Wednesday as meteorologists tracked the
country’s hottest spring and summer on
record into uncharted territory.

2012 was warmest year ever for US,
second most 'extreme':
The average temperature for 2012 was
55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.2 degrees
above normal and a full degree higher
than the previous warmest year recorded
-- 1998 -- NOAA said in its report
Tuesday. All 48 states in the contiguous
U.S. had above-average annual
temperatures last year, including 19
that broke annual records.

A pre-emptive Iranian strike to ward off
an Israeli or American attack on its
nuclear project is a real threat, one
that could send the region entirely
off-kilter and one we must be ready for.
Continue

According to General Ivashov, this is
not a question of protecting Turkey from
an attack by the Syrians, but the
invasion of Turkish troops into Syria,
as Ankara has been interested in the
country for a long time. Continue

“Because congress does not
possess the necessary nine-tenths
majority to override an Israeli veto,
they’ll have no choice but to head back
to the drawing board and provide a
Defense Secretary whom we find more
suitable.” Continue

Killing at a distance
dehumanises those doing it – it is not
killing but a computer game. Scoring a
‘hit’ that involves no blood, no
entrails, no broken lives brings no
guilt, no remorse and no proper
awareness of the hurt inflicted on
others. Continue

Obama gave a clear signal that he
intends to expand the illegal program of
drone assassinations that has already
killed thousands of innocent
civilians—men, women and children—and
mutilated thousands more in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Continue

How can the country of Henry
David Thoreau, separation of church and
state, and family Thanksgiving dinners
produce American super-nationalists
capable of firing missiles into Muslim
family reunions in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia? Continue

These rumors just illustrate how
despised Chavez is among the racketeer
class of brandy-drooling plutocrats who
want to return Venezuela to the
pre-Chavez glory days of widespread
ignorance, injustice and grinding
poverty. Continue

Obama regime kills another 8 people in
Pakistan:
: At least eight people have been killed
in two suspected US drone attacks in
Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas,
security officials say. Both attacks
took place in the Mir Ali area of the
North Waziristan tribal district in the
early hours of Tuesday.

Retired general
cautions against overuse of "hated"
drones:
Aerial reconnaissance and attack drones
have had a liberating effect on U.S.
military forces, but they are deeply
hated by many people and their overuse
could jeopardize Washington's broader
objectives, retired General Stanley
McChrystal said on Monday.

Germany begins
deployment of Patriot missiles to
Turkey:
Tuesday morning saw a ship carrying two
Patriot missiles set out from a
northeastern German seaport and a convoy
of German soldiers fly out of the Dutch
city of Eindhoven. They will assemble
along the Turkish-Syrian border in
preparation for the arrival of the
defense systems in several weeks’ tim

Militants attack
Turkish outpost, 13 killed:
Twelve Kurdish militants and one Turkish
soldier were killed in clashes along the
Turkey-Iraq border after the militants
opened fire from inside Iraq on a remote
outpost in southeast Turkey, security
sources said on Tuesday.

Israel Pushes
Washington to Give Iran an Ultimatum:
Israeli Finance Minister Dr. Yuval
Steinitz parachuted into Washington
Monday for two days of meetings focusing
mainly on Iran. Steinitz’s main message
to the Obama Administration: it’s time
to give Iran an ultimatum.

6 killed, 18
wounded in 2 car bombings in Iraq:
At least six people were killed and 18
others wounded in two car bomb
explosions at commercial areas in the
east and north of the Iraqi capital of
Baghdad on Tuesday, the police sources
said.

Demonstrators
rally to support Iraqi government:
Demonstrators took to the streets in
Iraq's second largest city Tuesday to
show support for Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's government, which has
weathered over two weeks of angry
protests.

Arab
spring in N. Ireland?Belfast police
say British must intervene:
Rioting in Belfast has continued for the
fifth night in a row. According to Terry
Spence, chairman of Northern Ireland's
police federation, local politicians
have lost control of the situation.

European
unemployment hits ‘unacceptable high’:
The 19th rise in a row for the eurozone,
home to some 330 million people,
represented an increase of more than two
million on the dole compared with a year
ago, according to data published by the
EU statistics service Eurostat.

Venezuela plans
pro-Chávez rally for president's
swearing-in:
The Venezuelan government called on its
citizens to ignore the "psychological
warfare coming from abroad" on Tuesday
in a public declaration stating that the
president, Hugo Chávez, remains in a
"stationary condition" and is still
suffering from a lung infection almost a
month after emergency cancer surgery in
Cuba.

11,000 US
teachers laid off in December:
Since the Department of Labor’s monthly
employment report was released last
Friday, very little discussion in the
media has been devoted to the fact that
of the 13,000 local government workers
that were laid off last month, more than
11,000 were teachers or school-related
staff.

Hagel earned his reputation as a skeptic
of American military adventurism, as
anyone who remembers his consistent
criticism of the Iraq war will remember.
But that criticism has blown Hagel’s
reputation for dovishness out of
proportion. Continue

The American political process is being
hijacked by a reckless, whining
dangerous gang of psychologically
damaged white men who are far-right
ideologues. I used to be one of them.
It's time to tell the truth about our
white male problem. Continue

"We are not going to be silenced, no
more!" "Idle No More" is a worldwide
indigenous movement started by the First
Nation Tribes of Canada as a way to help
protect the Constitutional Treaty Rights
of the Indian Act. Continue

Obama regime
kills 17 people in Pakistan: : At least 17
people, all believed to be suspected
militants, were killed and eight others
sustained injuries in three separate US
drone attacks in the mountainous Babar
area of Ladha subdivision in South
Waziristan Agency

Foreign fighters
using Yarmouk as base:
ex-Arafat aide: Foreign nationals are
using the Palestinian refugee camp of
Yarmouk in Damascus as a base to fight
the Syrian government, a former adviser
to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
said

Syrian troops
repulse rebels in Aleppo: report:
SANA news agency said members of the
"terrorist group" were killed and
wounded in the late Sunday battle but
did not specify the number. The
government and the pro-regime media
refer to rebels as terrorists.

Russian Naval
Force Gathers Off Syria In Warning To
West:
Five Russian landing ships carrying
hundreds of marines and military
vehicles are gathering in the eastern
Mediterranean in a show of force said by
one Russian diplomat to be aimed at
deterring western intervention in
Syria's civil war.

Are the Arab
monarchies next?:
As the chaotic transition towards
democracy continues in North Africa and
Yemen, the fighting in Syria is
intensifying. And, less noticed,
opposition to the Arab monarchies is
growing.

New Iran
sanctions target industry:
The new measures passed by Congress and
signed by President Obama last week are
intended to deliver powerful blows
against key industries ranging from
shipping and ports-management to the
government-controlled news media,
congressional officials and economic
experts say.

The Real Reason
Republicans Hate Hagel:
They fear that Hagel will cut the
military budget. They fear that he’ll
roll over if Iran builds a nuclear
weapon. They fear that he’s too
reluctant to use military force
generally. And they fear he doesn’t much
like Israel; the extremists on this
point claim he’s anti-Semitic.

Chuck Hagel's
views on war forged by Vietnam
experience:
Badly burned after his armored personnel
carrier hit a land mine in Vietnam,
Chuck Hagel sat in a medical evacuation
helicopter thinking of the horrors he
had experienced during combat. "If I
ever get out, if I ever can influence
anything, I will do all I can to prevent
war," he would later tell his
biographer, Charlyne Berens.

The recruitment of death squads
is part of a well established US
military-intelligence agenda. There is a
long and gruesome US history of covert
funding and support of terror brigades
and targeted assassinations going back
to the Vietnam war. Continue

The American brand of power operates
through a continuum of warfare: from
Pentagon drone targets to mass school
shootings and neighborhood gang battles,
and exported across the border to the
blood-stained streets of Ciudad Juarez.
Continue

Consumers willingly surrender their
freedom, money and time in pursuit of
what exactly? Continue

Obama regime kills 16 people in NW
Pakistan: At least
16 people were killed and seven others
injured when U.S drones fired a number
of missiles at different targets in
Pakistan's northwest tribal area of
South Waziristan on Sunday, reported
local media Geo.

Twin blasts kill
five at Afghan meeting:
Two suicide bombers struck a meeting of
community leaders in a southern Afghan
town near the Pakistan border yesterday,
killing at least five people and
wounding 15, officials said.

133 Children Die
Every Day in Afghanistan:
According to available figures, about 73
percent of people in Afghanistan lack
access to clean drinking water and 95
percent do not have access to sufficient
sanitation. As a result, diarrhoeal
diseases are responsible for the death
of 48,545 children every year in the
country.

5 killed in
violence in Iraq's Diyala:
A car bomb exploded at a popular market
in the town of Kan'an north of the
provincial capital city of Baquba, some
65 km northeast of Baghdad, killing
three people and wounding six others, a
provincial police source told Xinhua on
condition of anonymity.

Maliki blames
Iraq mounting crises on regional
polarisation: Maliki
said "regional competition" was
negatively affecting Iraq, an apparent
reference to the violence in Syria where
mainly Sunni rebels are fighting
President Bashar al-Assad's regime, and
two weeks of rallies in Iraq's western
Anbar province, which is mostly Sunni.

President Assad
outlines peace plans for Syria:Shanghai Daily
: -
SYRIAN President Bashar Assad yesterday
outlined his vision for a road map to
end nearly 22 months of violence in
Syria but also struck a defiant tone,
calling on his countrymen to unite
against "murderous criminals" whom he
said are carrying out a foreign plot
seeking to tear the nation apart.

Morsy wants
al-Assad tried for war crimes:
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy
supports calls by people in Syria for
President Bashar al-Assad to be tried
for war crimes, he told CNN on Sunday in
an exclusive interview.

Iran Unveils
Copycat Arsenal:
Tehran’s copycat arsenal could contain a
few nasty surprises for the U.S. and its
allies in the unlikely event that
tensions over Iran’s nuclear program
come to blows.

Major Test for
Israel Lobby As Obama Leans to Hagel for
Pentagon:
the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), faces a major
dilemma. If it mounts a vigorous
campaign to fight Hagel’s confirmation
by the Senate, it could put at serious
risk its relations with the president,
who is about to be inaugurated for
another four-year term.

Russia Plans
Construction of 50 Warships:
The Defense Ministry said in a statement
six strategic nuclear submarines and
special operations support vessels, 18
surface warships, and 30 special-purpose
and counter-subversion vessels are
planned for construction, RIA Novosti
reported.

At least 26 dead
in Mexico drug gang violence:
At least 26 people were killed in Mexico
in the past 24 hours in apparent
drug-related crimes, including six men
shot dead whose bodies bear signs of
torture, authorities said Saturday.

In case
you missed it:
US, EU agencies fund Venezuelan
opposition with $40-50 million annually:
A revealing report prepared with funding
from the World Movement for Democracy (a
project of the US-based National
Endowment for Democracy, NED), has
disclosed that international agencies
are funding the Venezuelan opposition
with a whopping US$40-50 million
annually.

Nightmare
Continues For US Man Jailed in Bolivia
:
Ostreicher languished for a year and a
half, among the murderers, rapists and
pretty drug criminals locked up in the
bizarre and dangerous place, where
prisoners run the prison and guards
rarely enter. He was never charged and
no evidence was brought against him.

US credit agency
sues JP Morgan again:
US federal regulators have launched a
lawsuit against financial firm JP Morgan
Chase & Co over the sale of risky
mortgage securities that contributed to
the collapse of three credit unions.

U.S. public
schools cut 11,000 jobs in December:
- Local U.S. governments cut jobs for
the fourth straight month in December,
including 11,000 in public schools,
dragging down the nation's fragile
economic recovery, jobs data showed on
Friday.

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